Warp knitting or raschel machine

ABSTRACT

A warp knitting or Raschel machine with means for feeding filler thread to the knitting implements and with a sinker arrangement mounted above the needles, is provided with a plurality of filler sinkers extending into the space between trick plates and needles, and movably mounted below the needles. The filler sinkers perform a movement consisting of consecutive horizontal and vertical sections in timed relationship with the needle action and cooperate with the sinker arrangement to hold a filler thread brought behind the back side of the needles in place during the rising of the needles.

I United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,864,943 Wunner 1 Feb. 11, 1975 [5 WARP KNITTING 0R RASCHEL MACHINE 3,707,853 1/1973 Linderetal 66 34 3,71 1O 19 [75] Inventor: Roland Wunner, Bernstem/Wald, 8 0 [0/ 70 Kohl 66/84 Germany Primary Examiner-Ronald Feldbaum [73] Assignee: Liba Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Naila, Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenneth S. Goldfarb Bavaria, Germany [22] Filed: Sept. 6, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT [21] AWL 1603394396 A warp knitting or Raschel machine with means for feeding filler thread to the knitting implements and with a sinker arrangement mounted above the needles, [52] US. Cl. 66/84 A, 66/109 is provided with a plurality of filler sinkers extending [51] Int. Cl D04b 23/06 into the Space between trick plates and needles and [58] Fleld of Search 66/109, 83-89 movably mounted below the needles h n sinkers perform a movement consisting of consecutive hori- [56] References d zontal and vertical sections in timed relationship with UNITED STATES PATENTS the needle action and cooperate with the sinker ar- 1,206,179 11/1916 Wagner 66/109 rangement to hold a filler thread brought behind the 1,951,104 3/1934 Mills 66/85 back side of the needles in place during the rising of 2,943,468 7/1960 Woollett et al. 66/109 X the needles. 2,984,998 5/1961 Liebranot et 211.. 66/80 l 3,460,357 8/1969 Kohl 66/86 3 Claims, 8 Drflwmg F Igures PATENTEDFEBIHSYS 3,864,943

I i I '11 WARP KNITTING OR RASCIIEL MACHINE This invention relates to warp knitting and Raschel maschines for producing knitted fabrics having loops in longitudinal direction and weft or filler threads extending over the entire width in transversal direction, and is particularly concerned with machines adapted for laying filler threads taken from a plurality of prepared fillers.

In order to arrive at'high operation speeds, it was hitherto necessary to prepare the laying of several weft or fillter threads, or to use automatic filler laying devices mounted at the rear side of the machine. In machines of that kind, a plurality or group of filler threads is taken from a stationary filler supply and led to a weft carriage moving along the width of the machine and laying the threads into filler carriers transporting the tiller threads to the knitting implements. With high production speed, it was extremely difficult to deliver the filler threads safely and without faults over the back side of the knock-over or trick plates to the last formed loop and to hold it there. Primarily, the tiller thread hat to be prevented from being dragged upward when the needles rise intothe thread lapping position, and from getting to the beard side of the needles.

Therefore, a sinker comb or grid has been provided rotatably mounted on bearings positioned at the back side of the machine below the knitting needles and the trick plates. The grid was intended to hold the tiller thread on the trick plates. This arrangement has, however, the disadvantage that is does not allow the automatic filler laying mentioned above. I

It has furthermore been proposed to arrange the bearings of the sinker comb above the needles and the trick plates, and to impart to it such a movement that the sinker plates, coming from above, hold the tiller threads down to the upper edge of the trick plates during the first phase of the needle rising. Such an arrangement is described in detail and claimed in the copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 259,785 of Karl Liebrandt, Arno Zwingenberger, and Roland Wunner.

It is known in the art to bring the tiller thread to the back side of the needles by means of reciprocating filler sinkers and additional thread guiding elements. Also in this type of machine, automatic filler laying is unfeasible. Furthermore, it is known to provide horizontally reciprocating filler sinkers in cooperation with filler transporting means. A single filler thread is stretched, in several consecutive lengths, between two endless ribbons or chains with gripping fingers, and transported to the knitting needles from above. This arrangement, too, was restricted to a relatively low production speed.

The principal object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks and disadvantages of the hitherto known machines and to provide a construction which allows for a high operating speed, particularly with strong threads, without the risk of fabric faults and needle fractures.

A further object of the invention is to improve the construction disclosed in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 259,785, mentioned above, in such a manner that the operating speed can be increased while still ensuring a faultless operation.

An important feature of the invention is an additional filler sinker bar positioned below the trick plates. The additional filler sinkers perform a horizontal reciprocating movement for delivering a filler thread to the back side of the needles, and a vertical reciprocating movement, both in timed relationship with the movement of the sinker bar operating from above. The cooperation of upper sinker bar and lower filler sinkers avoid fabric faults even at very high operating speeds.

A preferred embodiment will now be described in detail to show further objects and features of the invention. In the accompanying drawing,

FIGS. 1-6 show diagrammatically consecutive positions during the related movements of sinker bar and filler sinkers;

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of details of a warp knitting machine embodying the invention;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view, partly in section, of parts shown in FIG. 7. 7

It is also referred to the drawing of the co-pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 259,785 where mounting and drive of the various knitting implements are shown in detail.

In FIG. 1 of the present application, there is shown a bearded needle 1 to be closed by a slide 2.'According to the number of needles used, thread guides 3 are arranged in rows above, and swinging between, the needles. An automatic filler laying device of known type (not shown) supplies filler threads 4 to the back side of the needles by means of a special filler carriage (not shown). Below the trick plates 5, there are provided filler sinkers 6 respectively. As can be seen in FIGS. 2-4, the filler sinkers move from right to left to separate a filler thread 4'and bring it behind the back side of the needles upon the upper edge of the trick plates 5. The tiller sinker movement is timed with the sinker bar movement in such a way that during the transport of the tiller thread the sinker plates 7 move from upper right to lower left. Filler sinkers 6 and sinker plates 7, which perform a circular or orbital movement, thus cooperate to hold the filler thread just brought into the needle zone firmly to the upper edge of the trick plates and to prvent it from being dragged upward by the rising needle or drifting back away from the needle zone.

The filler sinkers 6 perform a substantially rectangular movement as will be explained below; all the time they substantially remain within the trick plate zone. In the uppermost position of the filler sinkers 6, they extend between the sinker plates, as can best be seen in FIG. 4. The sinkers then commence to move downward (FIG. 5), allowing the filler thread to arrive at the knitting implements. Hereafter, the filler sinkers move to the right (FIG. 6) below the upper edge of the trick plates, and return to the position shown in FIG. 1.

As the filler thread is safely guided by filler sinkers and sinker plates, a machine constructed according to the invention can operate with high speed, while dragging of the filler thread by the rising needles and other faults are positively avoided.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, parts corresponding to those shown in FIGS. l-6 have the same reference numeral. The filler sinkers 6 are shown mounted on a bar 16, to which are screwed brackets 15 holding a bolt 14. A member 12 is rotatably linked to bolts 14 and 13, the latter being held by brackets secured to a lever 11, which is pivoted at 9 and performs a swinging motion actuated by a rod 20 controlled by the machine drive. This causes a horizontal reciprocating movement of the bar 16 bearing the tiller sinkers 6.

A second lever 10, actuated by a second rod 21, is keyed to a shaft 8 rotatably mounted in the machine frame as indicated by numeral 22. Keyed to the shaft 8 is a holder 17 for a ball guide 18 which allows for a horizontal movement of a bearing bolt 19 secured to the bar 16, according to the reciprocating movement of bar 16 caused by rod 20. Actuation of rod 21 controlled by the machine drive causes a substantially vertical reciprocating movement of the tips of the filler sinkers 6. The combined movement of the tiller sinkers 6 is, therefore, approximately rectangular. At first, lever swings to the left causing an upward movement of the filler sinkers 6. After the needles have been lowered, lever 11 swings counterclockwise moving the filler sinkers to the left, thus ensuring that a filler thread 4 is safely brought behind the back of the needles. When, after knocking-over, the needles have completed their rising movement and their tips are within the zone of the sinker plates 7, the filler sinkers 6 move downward caused by the lever 10 swinging to the right. As soon as the tips of the tiller sinkers 6 are brought below the upper edge of the trick plates 5, the lever 11 swings clockwise to move the tiller sinkers 6 to the right into the initial position. All movements are controlled by suitable means (not shown), e.g. cam wheels, coupled to the machine drive.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the distance of individual filler sinkers 6 is equal to four times the needle distance; othe relations are, of course, feasible. Each filler sinker moves in the space between a needle 1 and the adjacent trick plate 5; it may have about the same thickness as the trick plate. It is advantageous to make the front part of the filler sinkers at least as wide as the needles. This avoids needle fractures as no filler thread will be present in the neddle zone during the rising of the needles.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing disclusure is for the purpose of illustration, and that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a warp knitting or Raschel machine comprising a row of vertical needles, a plurality of thread guides for supplying warp thread to said needles, a plurality of trick plates with knock-over edges, means for feeding filler thread to said needles for producing knitted fabrics, a plurality of filler threads being prepared to arrive horizontally at the level of the upper edge of said trick plates, a sinker arrangement consisting of a plurality of sinker plates disposed above said needles and above said trick plates, said sinker plates performing a substantially orbital movement in timed relationship to the needle movement, and a plurality of filler sinkers extending into the space between said trick plates and said needles and movably mounted below said sinker arrangement, means for imparting to said filler sinkers a substantially rectangular movement consisting of consecutive horizontal and vertical sections in timed relationship with the needle action and thus with the operation of said sinker arrangement, said filler sinkers being adapted to separate a filler thread and transport it to the back side of said needles and cooperate at this position and instant with said sinker arrangement which holds the tiller thread down to the upper edge of said trick plates during the rising of said needles.

2. A warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said filler sinkers remain between the trick plates during their entire movement cycle, the tips of said filler sinkers extending between adjacent said sinker plates while separating and transporting the filler thread, and extending between said needles and said trick plates in their foremost position.

3. A warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the front part of said filler sinkers is at least as wide as said needles for clearing the needle zone of said filler thread during the rising of said needles. 

1. In a warp knitting or Raschel machine comprising a row of vertical needles, a plurality of thread guides for supplying warp thread to said needles, a plurality of trick plates with knockover edges, means for feeding filler thread to said needles for producing knitted fabrics, a plurality of filler threads being prepared to arrive horizontally at the level of the upper edge of said trick plates, a sinker arrangement consisting of a plurality of sinker plates disposed above said needles and above said trick plates, said sinker plates performing a substantially orbital movement in timed relationship to the needle movement, and a plurality of filler sinkers extending into the space between said trick plates and said needles and movably mounted below said sinker arrangement, means for imparting to said filler sinkers a substantially rectangular movement consisting of consecutive horizontal and vertical sections in timed relationship with the needle action and thus with the operation of said sinker arrangement, said filler sinkers being adapted to separate a filler thread and transport it to the back side of said needles and cooperate at this position and instant with said sinker arrangement which holds the filler thread down to the upper edge of said trick plates during the rising of said needles.
 2. A warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said filler sinkers remain between the trick plates during their entire movement cycle, the tips of said filler sinkers extending between adjacent said sinker plates while separating and transporting the filler thread, and extending between said needles and said trick plates in their foremost position.
 3. A warp knitting machine accordinG to claim 1, wherein the front part of said filler sinkers is at least as wide as said needles for clearing the needle zone of said filler thread during the rising of said needles. 